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Published on November 28, 2007

The renovation is aimed at clarifying the company's market position as a low-cost operator of petrol stations located in communities.

About Bt80 million will be spent on upgrading all 183 Susco petrol stations nationwide to a bright and colourful look. The company owns 135 stations and their land plots, while the other 48 are owned by dealers.

"Under the reshuffle, we want to be market leader in the segment of medium-sized petrol stations," said Chairit Simaroj, managing director of Siam United Services.

Medium-sized operators, including Susco, PT and Pure, share about 10 per cent of the market for petrol stations, which is worth Bt700 billion to Bt800 billion in retail sales.

Chairit said the company had acquired 24 TPI petrol stations in June. These will be renovated and converted to the Susco brand.

"Last year we achieved sales of about Bt9 billion with a market share of about 1.5 per cent," said Chairit. "We expect to increase our market share to 2 per cent in the next three years."

Chairit said about 130 of Susco's 183 stations were located in communities.

"We have spent the past four to five years concentrating on the improvement of our bottom line. We have positioned ourselves as a low-cost operator. Apart from our own land plots, we also have our own trucks and ships to transport petrol products. This makes our operation costs about 20 per cent lower than those of our major competitors," said Chairit.

Siam United Services employs about 1,100 staff, of whom about 700 have been with the company for more than five years.

Deputy managing director Phongsathon Chatnarat said the company would soon start the facelift of its petrol stations.

"We will also communicate this rebranding campaign to our customers through a variety of media, particularly those close to their communities," said Phongsathon.

Kwanchai Rungfapaisarn, The Nation